Enhanced power savings through mobile initiated dormancy

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and devices are described for enhanced power savings in wireless devices through mobile initiated dormancy procedure. A user equipment (UE) may establish radio resource control (RRC) connectivity with a base station of the network, and transmit and receive one or more distinct signaling messages for dormancy state initialization and suspension at the UE. Dormancy state implementation at the UE may conserve available power resources at the UE during periods of inactive data transaction. The one or more signaling messages may contain a single or multi-bit indication for the receiving device, and may be transmitted via direct signaling on upper layer protocols of the data network or mapped to allocated resources of a data transmission. The signaling messages may sustain synchronization between the interpreted functional mode of the UE at the base station and the implemented mode at the UE.

CROSS REFERENCES

The present Application for Patent claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/567,897 by Raghunathan, et al.,entitled “ENHANCED POWER SAVINGS THROUGH MOBILE INITIATED DORMANCY,”filed Oct. 4, 2017, assigned to the assignee hereof, and expresslyincorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and morespecifically to power savings techniques.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of suchmultiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as aLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, andfifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR)systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM).A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number ofbase stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwiseknown as user equipment (UE).

A UE may be configured to communicate with one or more base stations ofan established network connection. In some cases, to at least preservebattery resources, the UE may identify that it will be in a period ofsustained communications inactivity and initiate procedures to enter adormancy state (e.g., based on expiration of an inactivity timer). TheUE may thus implement a data connection release from the base station.As a result, synchronization between the UE and base station may beimpeded or lost, with sustained resource overhead being dedicatedbetween the base station and a serving MME of the UE. In addition, theUE may experience excessive latency when attempting connectionre-establishment due to repeated execution of association andauthentication procedures, for example because synchronization has beenlost.

SUMMARY

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices,or apparatuses that support power savings techniques, for example,through user equipment (UE) initiated dormancy procedures. Generally,the described techniques provide for signaling to a base station overestablished radio resource control (RRC), medium access control (MAC),and/or physical (PHY) layer resources. The signaling from the UE mayinclude a single or multiple-bit indication for dormancy stateinitialization at the UE. For example, a UE may determine, via aninterface indication (e.g., a command based binary protocol interface,for example a mobile station modem (MSM) interface), one or moreparameters for initiating a dormancy state at the UE. The UE mayevaluate the service operations and determine a lack of data activityover the established network connection. The UE may then transmit, tothe coupled base station of the network connection, a request to suspenddata transactions at the UE while sustaining the established RRCconnectivity (e.g., a dormancy state, which may be referred to as a fastdormancy state).

The connection suspend request may correspond to a distinct bit mappingwithin resources of the signaled transmission, and may includeadditional priority (e.g., representing an urgency of the request) andduration indicators. The base station may respond with a response to theconnection suspend request (a connection suspend response) and based onscheduled resources of the connection, the response may include anacknowledgement and/or confirmation, or rejection, of dormancy stateinitialization at the UE. The transmission and reception of theconnection suspension request and response messages may sustainsynchronization between the base station and the UE within the networkcontext. In the case of received dormancy state confirmation, the UE maycache configuration parameters, including a security context, of theconnection with the base station and additional layer protocols of thedata network, and then enter a configured dormancy state. Resources usedfor the caching procedure may correspond to static or modular memoryresources of local or remote storage configured for the UE. Additionallyor alternatively, remote storage corresponding to the base station orestablished core network of the communications system may be enabled forcaching contexts associated with the UE.

A trigger indication from the application processers coupled to the UEand/or an upper layer (e.g., non-access stratum (NAS)) request forservices may enact connection re-establishment or resume procedures atthe UE. In such cases, the UE may transmit a request to the base stationfor data service continuity within the preceding connectivity context ofthe RRC connection with the base station. In some cases, the basestation may respond to the UE with a connection resume confirmationbased on the cached security context and parameters of the priorconnection (e.g., access stratum (AS) security context and dedicatedparameters) with the UE, or new configured parameters for the UE withinthe network context. Alternatively, the base station may provide to theUE an indication for a connectivity release procedure, establishing anidle camped state of the UE on the network cell of the connection. As aresult, the UE may implement an RRC connectivity re-establishment or RRCconnectivity release while sustaining connectivity synchronization withthe base station and additional network elements of the communicationssystem.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may includeidentifying that a power level of the UE is below a power threshold,transmitting a connection suspend request to a base station based atleast in part on the identification, the connection suspend request totransition the UE from a connected state to a dormancy state, andreceiving, from the base station, a response to the connection suspendrequest indicating whether the UE is to transition to the dormancystate.

An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for identifying that a power level of the UE is below apower threshold, means for transmitting a connection suspend request toa base station based at least in part on the identification, theconnection suspend request to transition the UE from a connected stateto a dormancy state, and means for receiving, from the base station, aresponse to the connection suspend request indicating whether the UE isto transition to the dormancy state.

Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatusmay include a processor, memory in electronic communication with theprocessor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions maybe operable to cause the processor to identify that a power level of theUE is below a power threshold, transmit a connection suspend request toa base station based at least in part on the identification, theconnection suspend request to transition the UE from a connected stateto a dormancy state, and receive, from the base station, a response tothe connection suspend request indicating whether the UE is totransition to the dormancy state.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for wireless communication isdescribed. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may includeinstructions operable to cause a processor to identify that a powerlevel of the UE is below a power threshold, transmit a connectionsuspend request to a base station based at least in part on theidentification, the connection suspend request to transition the UE froma connected state to a dormancy state, and receive, from the basestation, a response to the connection suspend request indicating whetherthe UE is to transition to the dormancy state.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for determining whether to transitionto the dormancy state based at least in part on the received response tothe connection suspend request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for transitioning from the connectedstate to the dormancy state based at least in part on the response tothe connection suspend request, wherein the response comprises aconfirmation of the connection suspend request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for maintaining the connected statebased at least in part on the response to the connection suspendrequest, wherein the response comprises a denial of the connectionsuspend request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for transitioning to an idle statebased at least in part on the response to the connection suspendrequest, wherein the response comprises a denial of the connectionsuspend request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for entering a modem of the UE into thedormancy state, wherein the response comprises a confirmation of theconnection suspend request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for transitioning from the connectedstate to the dormancy state based at least in part on the response tothe connection suspend request. Some examples of the method, apparatus,and non-transitory computer-readable medium described above may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for determining,while in the dormancy state, to resume communications with the basestation. Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for transmitting, to the base station,a connection resume request to transition from the dormancy state to theconnected state.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the base station, aresponse to the connection resume request confirming the connectionresume request. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for transitioningfrom the dormancy state to the connected state based at least in part onthe confirmation.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the connection suspendrequest, or the response to the connection suspend request, or aconnection resume request, or a response to the connection resumerequest may be sent using a radio resource control (RRC) message, orLayer 1 signaling, or a combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the Layer 1 signalingcomprises uplink control information within a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH), or the uplink control information within a physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH), or an uplink medium access control (MAC)control element (CE), or a combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the connection suspend requestcomprises an indication of a duration for the dormancy state, or apriority for the transition to the dormancy state, or a request to storea security context for the UE, or a request to store one or moreconnection parameters for the UE, or a combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the connection suspend requestcomprises an uplink dedicated control channel (DCCH) message. In someexamples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described above, the response to the connection suspend requestcomprises a downlink DCCH message.

A method of wireless communication is described. The method may includereceiving a connection suspend request from a user equipment (UE), theconnection suspend request to transition the UE from a connected stateto a dormancy state, determining whether to allow the UE to transitionto the dormancy state based at least in part on the connection suspendrequest, and transmitting a response to the connection suspend requestto the UE, the response comprising, based at least in part on thedetermination, a confirmation of the connection suspend request or adenial of the connection suspend request.

An apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatus mayinclude means for receiving a connection suspend request from a userequipment (UE), the connection suspend request to transition the UE froma connected state to a dormancy state, means for determining whether toallow the UE to transition to the dormancy state based at least in parton the connection suspend request, and means for transmitting a responseto the connection suspend request to the UE, the response comprising,based at least in part on the determination, a confirmation of theconnection suspend request or a denial of the connection suspendrequest.

Another apparatus for wireless communication is described. The apparatusmay include a processor, memory in electronic communication with theprocessor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions maybe operable to cause the processor to receive a connection suspendrequest from a user equipment (UE), the connection suspend request totransition the UE from a connected state to a dormancy state, determinewhether to allow the UE to transition to the dormancy state based atleast in part on the connection suspend request, and transmit a responseto the connection suspend request to the UE, the response comprising,based at least in part on the determination, a confirmation of theconnection suspend request or a denial of the connection suspendrequest.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium for wireless communication isdescribed. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may includeinstructions operable to cause a processor to receive a connectionsuspend request from a user equipment (UE), the connection suspendrequest to transition the UE from a connected state to a dormancy state,determine whether to allow the UE to transition to the dormancy statebased at least in part on the connection suspend request, and transmit aresponse to the connection suspend request to the UE, the responsecomprising, based at least in part on the determination, a confirmationof the connection suspend request or a denial of the connection suspendrequest.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for determining to allow the UE totransition to the dormancy state, wherein the response to the connectionsuspend request comprises the confirmation of the connection suspendrequest.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for receiving, from the UE, aconnection resume request to transition the UE from the dormancy stateto the connected state. Some examples of the method, apparatus, andnon-transitory computer-readable medium described above may furtherinclude processes, features, means, or instructions for transmitting aresponse to the connection resume request to the UE confirming theconnection resume request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for determining to deny the UE totransition to the dormancy state, wherein the response to the connectionsuspend request comprises the denial of the connection suspend request.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for transmitting, based at least inpart on receiving the connection suspend request, a command for the UEto transition to an idle state.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for storing, by the base station basedat least in part on receiving the connection suspend request, one ormore communication parameter values for the UE.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, storing the one or morecommunication parameter values comprises: storing a security context ofthe UE.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the connection suspendrequest, or the response to the connection suspend request, or aconnection resume request, or a response to the connection resumerequest may be sent using a radio resource control (RRC) message, orLayer 1 signaling, or a combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the Layer 1 signalingcomprises uplink control information within a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH), or the uplink control information within a physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH), or an uplink medium access control (MAC)control element (CE), or a combination thereof.

Some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above may further include processes,features, means, or instructions for identifying, based at least in parton the received connection suspend request, an indication of a durationthat the UE will be in the dormancy state, or a priority associated withthe transition to the dormancy state, or a request to cache a UEsecurity context, or a request to cache one or more UE connectionparameters, or a combination thereof.

In some examples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described above, the connection suspend requestcomprises an uplink dedicated control channel (DCCH) message. In someexamples of the method, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readablemedium described above, the response to the connection suspend requestcomprises a downlink DCCH message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communicationthat supports power savings in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system thatsupports power savings in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a process flow in a system thatsupports power savings in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 4 through 6 show block diagrams of a device that supports powersavings in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a UE thatsupports power savings in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 8 through 10 show block diagrams of a device that supports powersavings in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a base stationthat supports power savings in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 12 through 18 illustrate methods for power savings in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In a wireless communication system, a user equipment (UE) may analyzeresources of an established network connectivity and initiate procedureto implement a dormancy state at the UE, as a means to conserve power,for example available power of a battery. An application processor mayevaluate a power state of the UE and correlate the indicated state to apreconfigured threshold. In the case of operable power capacity belowthe threshold, the application processor may transmit an indication ofthe power status to a modem of the UE. The modem may receive theindication over a binary protocol interface of the UE (e.g., a mobilestation modem (MSM) interface) and enact command instructions associatedwith the protocol. The modem may analyze resources of the one or morechannels configured for data transmission and reception, as well as thescheduling operation at the UE, and determine an absence of signalingassociated with the UE.

Upon determining signaling inactivity at the processor, the UE maytransmit a distinct connection suspend request message to the basestation for at least acknowledgment and confirmation of a dormancy stateat the UE. The request may correspond to a single bit or multi bitcommand indication soliciting a switch to a power saving mode (e.g.,dormancy state) at the UE. In some cases, the UE may signal theconnection suspend request via an UL dedicated control channel (DCCH)transmission over a configured signaling radio bearer (SRB) 1. In othercases, the UE may implement a distinct bit string (e.g., medium accesscontrol (MAC) control element (CE)) to carry control indication of therequest. The MAC CE may be implemented within one or more sub-headers ofa submitted MAC protocol data unit (PDU). Alternatively, in other cases,the UE may map the one or more bits of the connection suspend requestwithin an uplink control information (UCI) indication on physical layer(PHY) resources. The request may be mapped to one or more configuredresource elements of allocated resource blocks within physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH) and/or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)resources. In each of the aforementioned cases, the request indicationfor enacting dormancy procedure at the UE may enable at least a methodfor sustaining synchronization between the base station and the UE andpreserving available power.

The base station may receive the transmitted signaling and/or submittedindication of the UE and compose a response to the connection suspendrequest. In some cases, the composed response may include a positiveacknowledgment of the dormancy state request of the UE, and confirmationfor subsequent enablement of a power saving mode at the UE. In othercases, the composed response may include a connection suspend rejection,and command indication to sustain an RRC connected state at the UE. TheUE may receive the transmitted response to the connection suspendrequest from the base station, and determine an operation mode of theUE. In the case of a connection suspend acknowledgment and confirmation,the UE may cache security context and configuration parameters of theestablished connection with the base station and additional layerprotocols of the data network, and enter a configured dormancy state ofthe UE. The dormancy state of the UE may allow the UE to operate withlimited power consumption by obviating data traffic over PHY layerresources, while sustaining the established RRC connectivity with thebase station.

A trigger indication from the application processes coupled to the UEand/or upper layer (e.g., NAS) request services of evolved packet core(EPC) entities may initiate connection re-establishment procedure at theUE. The UE may signal the connection suspend request via an UL dedicatedcontrol channel (DCCH) transmission over SRB 1. The base station mayreceive the transmitted signaling of the UE and process the commandinformation, including the contained bit request for re-establishingdata connectivity within an RRC connected state. In some cases, the basestation may then respond with a connection resume confirmation messageover DL DCCH resources. The UE may then implement procedure forre-enacting (re-establishing) the previously established RRC connectedstate of the UE, in accordance with the cached or an indicated securitycontext of the connection. In other cases, the base station may initiatean RRC connection release procedure at the UE. As a result, the UE maytransition to an RRC Idle mode on a camped cell of the network. Theconnection request and response of the UE and the base station maymaintain synchronization between the interpreted functional mode of theUE at the base station and the implemented mode at the UE.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of awireless communications system. Aspects are also described in thecontext of signaling transmission over a configured network cell andprocess flows. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by anddescribed with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, andflowcharts that relate to power savings techniques through mobileinitiated dormancy.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wirelesscommunications system 100 includes base stations 105, UEs 115, and acore network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some cases, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications,ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latencycommunications, or communications with low-cost and low-complexitydevices. Wireless communications system 100 may support signalingbetween a UE 115 and a base station that enables the UE 115 to enterinto a dormancy state for efficient power saving.

Base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with UEs 115 via one ormore base station antennas. Base stations 105 described herein mayinclude or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radiotransceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation Node B orgiga-nodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB,a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. Wirelesscommunications system 100 may include base stations 105 of differenttypes (e.g., macro or small cell base stations). The UEs 115 describedherein may be able to communicate with various types of base stations105 and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, gNBs,relay base stations, and the like.

Each base station 105 may be associated with a particular geographiccoverage area 110 in which communications with various UEs 115 issupported. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage fora respective geographic coverage area 110 via communication links 125,and communication links 125 between a base station 105 and a UE 115 mayutilize one or more carriers. Communication links 125 shown in wirelesscommunications system 100 may include uplink transmissions from a UE 115to a base station 105, or downlink transmissions, from a base station105 to a UE 115. Downlink transmissions may also be called forward linktransmissions while uplink transmissions may also be called reverse linktransmissions.

The geographic coverage area 110 for a base station 105 may be dividedinto sectors making up only a portion of the geographic coverage area110, and each sector may be associated with a cell. For example, eachbase station 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, asmall cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or various combinationsthereof. In some examples, a base station 105 may be movable andtherefore provide communication coverage for a moving geographiccoverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas110 associated with different technologies may overlap, and overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies maybe supported by the same base station 105 or by different base stations105. The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, aheterogeneous LTE/LTE-A or NR network in which different types of basestations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110.

The term “cell” refers to a logical communication entity used forcommunication with a base station 105 (e.g., over a carrier), and may beassociated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells(e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier(VCID)) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples,a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may beconfigured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-typecommunication (MTC), narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT), enhancedmobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access fordifferent types of devices. In some cases, the term “cell” may refer toa portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) over whichthe logical entity operates.

UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications system100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also bereferred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, ahandheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitableterminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, astation, a terminal, or a client. A UE 115 may also be a personalelectronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. Insome examples, a UE 115 may also refer to a wireless local loop (WLL)station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything(IoE) device, or an MTC device, or the like, which may be implemented invarious articles such as appliances, vehicles, meters, or the like.

Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low cost or lowcomplexity devices, and may provide for automated communication betweenmachines (e.g., via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication). M2Mcommunication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies thatallow devices to communicate with one another or a base station 105without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTCmay include communications from devices that integrate sensors or metersto measure or capture information and relay that information to acentral server or application program that can make use of theinformation or present the information to humans interacting with theprogram or application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collectinformation or enable automated behavior of machines. Examples ofapplications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventorymonitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcaremonitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological eventmonitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing,physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ operating modes that reducepower consumption, such as half-duplex communications (e.g., a mode thatsupports one-way communication via transmission or reception, but nottransmission and reception simultaneously). In some examples half-duplexcommunications may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other powerconservation techniques for UEs 115 include entering a power saving“deep sleep” mode when not engaging in active communications, oroperating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowbandcommunications). In some cases, UEs 115 may be designed to supportcritical functions (e.g., mission critical functions), and a wirelesscommunications system 100 may be configured to provide ultra-reliablecommunications for these functions.

In some cases, a UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly withother UEs 115 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or device-to-device(D2D) protocol). One or more of a group of UEs 115 utilizing D2Dcommunications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a basestation 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographiccoverage area 110 of a base station 105, or be otherwise unable toreceive transmissions from a base station 105. In some cases, groups ofUEs 115 communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many(1:M) system in which each UE 115 transmits to every other UE 115 in thegroup. In some cases, a base station 105 facilitates the scheduling ofresources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications arecarried out between UEs 115 without the involvement of a base station105.

Base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130 and with oneanother. For example, base stations 105 may interface with the corenetwork 130 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., via an S1 or anotherinterface). Base stations 105 may communicate with one another overbackhaul links 134 (e.g., via an X2 or other interface) either directly(e.g., directly between base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via corenetwork 130).

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, accessauthorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and otheraccess, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be anevolved packet core (EPC), which may include at least one mobilitymanagement entity (MME), at least one serving gateway (S-GW), and atleast one Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW). The MME may managenon-access stratum (e.g., control plane) functions such as mobility,authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by basestations 105 associated with the EPC. User IP packets may be transferredthrough the S-GW, which itself may be connected to the P-GW. The P-GWmay provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The P-GWmay be connected to the network operators IP services. The operators IPservices may include access to the Internet, Intranet(s), an IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS), or a Packet-Switched (PS) Streaming Service.

At least some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, mayinclude subcomponents such as an access network entity, which may be anexample of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entitymay communicate with UEs 115 through a number of other access networktransmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio head, a smartradio head, or a transmission/reception point (TRP). In someconfigurations, various functions of each access network entity or basestation 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g.,radio heads and access network controllers) or consolidated into asingle network device (e.g., a base station 105).

Wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or morefrequency bands, typically in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz.Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-highfrequency (UHF) region or decimeter band, since the wavelengths rangefrom approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves maybe blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features.However, the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macrocell to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHFwaves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter range (e.g.,less than 100 km) compared to transmission using the smaller frequenciesand longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF)portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in a super highfrequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, alsoknown as the centimeter band. The SHF region includes bands such as the5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which may be usedopportunistically by devices that can tolerate interference from otherusers.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in an extremely highfrequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz),also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW)communications between UEs 115 and base stations 105, and EHF antennasof the respective devices may be even smaller and more closely spacedthan UHF antennas. In some cases, this may facilitate use of antennaarrays within a UE 115. However, the propagation of EHF transmissionsmay be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter rangethan SHF or UHF transmissions. Techniques disclosed herein may beemployed across transmissions that use one or more different frequencyregions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions maydiffer by country or regulating body.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize bothlicensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example,wireless communications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access(LAA), LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technologyin an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz ISM band. When operating inunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, wireless devices such as basestations 105 and UEs 115 may employ listen-before-talk (LBT) proceduresto ensure a frequency channel is clear before transmitting data. In somecases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a CA configurationin conjunction with CCs operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA).Operations in unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions,uplink transmissions, peer-to-peer transmissions, or a combination ofthese. Duplexing in unlicensed spectrum may be based on frequencydivision duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or acombination of both.

In some examples, base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped withmultiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such astransmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) communications, or beamforming. For example, wirelesscommunications system 100 may use a transmission scheme between atransmitting device (e.g., a base station 105) and a receiving device(e.g., a UE 115), where the transmitting device is equipped withmultiple antennas and the receiving devices are equipped with one ormore antennas. MIMO communications may employ multipath signalpropagation to increase the spectral efficiency by transmitting orreceiving multiple signals via different spatial layers, which may bereferred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, forexample, be transmitted by the transmitting device via differentantennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the multiplesignals may be received by the receiving device via different antennasor different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals maybe referred to as a separate spatial stream, and may carry bitsassociated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) ordifferent data streams. Different spatial layers may be associated withdifferent antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMOtechniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) where multiple spatiallayers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-userMIMO (MU-MIMO) where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multipledevices.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering,directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signalprocessing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or areceiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape orsteer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along aspatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device.Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated viaantenna elements of an antenna array such that signals propagating atparticular orientations with respect to an antenna array experienceconstructive interference while others experience destructiveinterference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antennaelements may include a transmitting device or a receiving deviceapplying certain amplitude and phase offsets to signals carried via eachof the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustmentsassociated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by abeamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g.,with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device orreceiving device, or with respect to some other orientation).

In one example, a base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antennaarrays to conduct beamforming operations for directional communicationswith a UE 115. For instance, some signals (e.g. synchronization signals,reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) maybe transmitted by a base station 105 multiple times in differentdirections, which may include a signal being transmitted according todifferent beamforming weight sets associated with different directionsof transmission. Transmissions in different beam directions may be usedto identify (e.g., by the base station 105 or a receiving device, suchas a UE 115) a beam direction for subsequent transmission and/orreception by the base station 105. Some signals, such as data signalsassociated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by abase station 105 in a single beam direction (e.g., a directionassociated with the receiving device, such as a UE 115). In someexamples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along asingle beam direction may be determined based at least in in part on asignal that was transmitted in different beam directions. For example, aUE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by the basestation 105 in different directions, and the UE 115 may report to thebase station 105 an indication of the signal it received with a highestsignal quality, or an otherwise acceptable signal quality. Althoughthese techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted inone or more directions by a base station 105, a UE 115 may employsimilar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in differentdirections (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequenttransmission or reception by the UE 115), or transmitting a signal in asingle direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).

A receiving device (e.g., a UE 115, which may be an example of a mmWreceiving device) may try multiple receive beams when receiving varioussignals from the base station 105, such as synchronization signals,reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals. Forexample, a receiving device may try multiple receive directions byreceiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing receivedsignals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving accordingto different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals receivedat a plurality of antenna elements of an antenna array, or by processingreceived signals according to different receive beamforming weight setsapplied to signals received at a plurality of antenna elements of anantenna array, any of which may be referred to as “listening” accordingto different receive beams or receive directions. In some examples areceiving device may use a single receive beam to receive along a singlebeam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single receivebeam may be aligned in a beam direction determined based at least inpart on listening according to different receive beam directions (e.g.,a beam direction determined to have a highest signal strength, highestsignal-to-noise ratio, or otherwise acceptable signal quality based atleast in part on listening according to multiple beam directions).

In some cases, the antennas of a base station 105 or UE 115 may belocated within one or more antenna arrays, which may support MIMOoperations, or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or morebase station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antennaassembly, such as an antenna tower. In some cases, antennas or antennaarrays associated with a base station 105 may be located in diversegeographic locations. A base station 105 may have an antenna array witha number of rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105may use to support beamforming of communications with a UE 115.Likewise, a UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that may supportvarious MIMO or beamforming operations.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may be a packet-basednetwork that operate according to a layered protocol stack. In the userplane, communications at the bearer or Packet Data Convergence Protocol(PDCP) layer may be IP-based. A Radio Link Control (RLC) layer may insome cases perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicateover logical channels. A Medium Access Control (MAC) layer may performpriority handling and multiplexing of logical channels into transportchannels. The MAC layer may also use hybrid automatic repeat request(HARQ) to provide retransmission at the MAC layer to improve linkefficiency. In the control plane, the Radio Resource Control (RRC)protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenanceof an RRC connection between a UE 115 and a base station 105 or corenetwork 130 supporting radio bearers for user plane data. At thePhysical (PHY) layer, transport channels may be mapped to physicalchannels.

In some cases, UEs 115 and base stations 105 may support retransmissionsof data to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully.HARQ feedback is one technique of increasing the likelihood that data isreceived correctly over a communication link 125. HARQ may include acombination of error detection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check(CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g.,automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the MAClayer in poor radio conditions (e.g., signal-to-noise conditions). Insome cases, a wireless device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, wherethe device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for datareceived in a previous symbol in the slot. In other cases, the devicemay provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to someother time interval.

Time intervals in LTE or NR may be expressed in multiples of a basictime unit, which may, for example, refer to a sampling period ofT_(s)=1/30,720,000 seconds. Time intervals of a communications resourcemay be organized according to radio frames each having a duration of 10milliseconds (ms), where the frame period may be expressed asT_(f)=307,200 T_(s). The radio frames may be identified by a systemframe number (SFN) ranging from 0 to 1023. Each frame may include 10subframes numbered from 0 to 9, and each subframe may have a duration of1 ms. A subframe may be further divided into 2 slots each having aduration of 0.5 ms, and each slot may contain 6 or 7 modulation symbolperiods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix prepended toeach symbol period). Excluding the cyclic prefix, each symbol period maycontain 2048 sampling periods. In some cases a subframe may be thesmallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100, andmay be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In othercases, a smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system100 may be shorter than a subframe or may be dynamically selected (e.g.,in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs) or in selected component carriersusing sTTIs).

In some wireless communications systems, a slot may further be dividedinto multiple mini-slots containing one or more symbols. In someinstances, a symbol of a mini-slot or a mini-slot may be the smallestunit of scheduling. Each symbol may vary in duration depending on thesubcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation, for example. Further,some wireless communications systems may implement slot aggregation inwhich multiple slots or mini-slots are aggregated together and used forcommunication between a UE 115 and a base station 105.

The term “carrier” refers to a set of radio frequency spectrum resourceshaving a defined physical layer structure for supporting communicationsover a communication link 125. For example, a carrier of a communicationlink 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band thatis operated according to physical layer channels for a given radioaccess technology. Each physical layer channel may carry user data,control information, or other signaling. A carrier may be associatedwith a pre-defined frequency channel (e.g., an E-UTRA absolute radiofrequency channel number (EARFCN)), and may be positioned according to achannel raster for discovery by UEs 115. Carriers may be downlink oruplink (e.g., in an FDD mode), or be configured to carry downlink anduplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode). In some examples, signalwaveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiplesub-carriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques suchas OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM).

The organizational structure of the carriers may be different fordifferent radio access technologies (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, NR, etc.). Forexample, communications over a carrier may be organized according toTTIs or slots, each of which may include user data as well as controlinformation or signaling to support decoding the user data. A carriermay also include dedicated acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronizationsignals or system information, etc.) and control signaling thatcoordinates operation for the carrier. In some examples (e.g., in acarrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisitionsignaling or control signaling that coordinates operations for othercarriers.

Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to varioustechniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel maybe multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using time divisionmultiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency division multiplexing (FDM)techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. In some examples, controlinformation transmitted in a physical control channel may be distributedbetween different control regions in a cascaded manner (e.g., between acommon control region or common search space and one or more UE-specificcontrol regions or UE-specific search spaces).

A carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the radiofrequency spectrum, and in some examples the carrier bandwidth may bereferred to as a “system bandwidth” of the carrier or the wirelesscommunications system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be oneof a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of a particularradio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 MHz). Insome examples, each served UE 115 may be configured for operating overportions or all of the carrier bandwidth. In other examples, some UEs115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol typethat is associated with a predefined portion or range (e.g., set ofsubcarriers or RBs) within a carrier (e.g., “in-band” deployment of anarrowband protocol type).

In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may consist ofone symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and onesubcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inverselyrelated. The number of bits carried by each resource element may dependon the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme).Thus, the more resource elements that a UE 115 receives and the higherthe order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate may be forthe UE 115. In MIMO systems, a wireless communications resource mayrefer to a combination of a radio frequency spectrum resource, a timeresource, and a spatial resource (e.g., spatial layers), and the use ofmultiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate forcommunications with a UE 115.

Devices of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., base stations105 or UEs 115) may have a hardware configuration that supportscommunications over a particular carrier bandwidth, or may beconfigurable to support communications over one of a set of carrierbandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communications system 100 mayinclude base stations 105 and/or UEs that can support simultaneouscommunications via carriers associated with more than one differentcarrier bandwidth.

Wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE115 on multiple cells or carriers, a feature which may be referred to ascarrier aggregation (CA) or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may beconfigured with multiple downlink CCs and one or more uplink CCsaccording to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregationmay be used with both FDD and TDD component carriers.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize enhancedcomponent carriers (eCCs). An eCC may be characterized by one or morefeatures including wider carrier or frequency channel bandwidth, shortersymbol duration, shorter TTI duration, or modified control channelconfiguration. In some cases, an eCC may be associated with a carrieraggregation configuration or a dual connectivity configuration (e.g.,when multiple serving cells have a suboptimal or non-ideal backhaullink). An eCC may also be configured for use in unlicensed spectrum orshared spectrum (e.g., where more than one operator is allowed to usethe spectrum). An eCC characterized by wide carrier bandwidth mayinclude one or more segments that may be utilized by UEs 115 that arenot capable of monitoring the whole carrier bandwidth or are otherwiseconfigured to use a limited carrier bandwidth (e.g., to conserve power).

In some cases, an eCC may utilize a different symbol duration than otherCCs, which may include use of a reduced symbol duration as compared withsymbol durations of the other CCs. A shorter symbol duration may beassociated with increased spacing between adjacent subcarriers. Adevice, such as a UE 115 or base station 105, utilizing eCCs maytransmit wideband signals (e.g., according to frequency channel orcarrier bandwidths of 20, 40, 60, 80 MHz, etc.) at reduced symboldurations (e.g., 16.67 microseconds). A TTI in eCC may consist of one ormultiple symbol periods. In some cases, the TTI duration (that is, thenumber of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable.

Wireless communications systems such as an NR system may utilize anycombination of licensed, shared, and unlicensed spectrum bands, amongothers. The flexibility of eCC symbol duration and subcarrier spacingmay allow for the use of eCC across multiple spectrums. In someexamples, NR shared spectrum may increase spectrum utilization andspectral efficiency, specifically through dynamic vertical (e.g., acrossfrequency) and horizontal (e.g., across time) sharing of resources.

Each of the UEs 115 may initiate connection establishment andsynchronization to a network cell of the wireless communication system.The UEs 115 may receive broadcasted network identification (e.g., publicland mobile network identity (PLMN-ID), physical cell id (PCI), etc.)and network capability indication from base stations 105 associated withthe network cells, for at least time slot and frame synchronization.Based at least in part on the synchronization, the UEs 115 may beenabled to interpret received system information over system informationblock (SIB) and master information block (MIB) resources and establishdownlink (DL) synchronization. The UEs 115 may initiate random accessprocedure (RAP) with the base station and establish uplink (UL)synchronization for attaining network access stratum (NAS) services.Preemptive to establishing NAS connectivity, the UEs 115 may establishradio resource control (RRC) protocol connectivity with the basestations 105 of the network via common control channel (CCCH)transmission on signaling radio bearer (SRB) 0. RRC connectionestablishment may include SRB 1 configuration for direct control channel(DCCH) signaling. The UEs 115 may send an NAS attach request and publicdata network (PDN) connectivity request for internet protocol (IP)establishment on the RRC connection. The base stations 105 may establisha logical connection associated with the respective UEs 115 at a servingmobile management entity (MME) and serving gateway (S-GW) of the corenetwork and perform authentication. The S-GW may establish a defaultbearer and additional dedicated assignment for the UEs 115 to establishconnectivity to the PDN and assign an IP address to the UE. The one ormore bearers may contain a radio bearer connection between the basestation and UE, an S1 bearer between the base stations 105 and S-GW, anda S5/S8 bearer between the S-GW and a PDN gateway (P-GW) of the network.Based on the bearer assignment, the base stations 105 may establishsecurity parameters with the UE and IP connectivity may be establishedat the UEs 115.

Wireless communications system 100 may support a UE initiated dormancystate implementation at the UEs 115 as a means to at least preservebattery resources at the UEs 115. Within certain contexts (e.g., inLTE), a UE 115 may provide a detach request to a serving MME entity ofthe UE 115 (via NAS signaling) and perform an autonomous release ofevolved packet system (EPS) connection management (ECM). The MME maythen implement session termination protocols for both the S-GW and P-GWof the PDN and locally deactivate the assigned EPS bearer contexts forthe UE 115, absent peer-to-peer signaling. As a result, a base station105 of the established RRC connection may be unaware of the connectionrelease at the UE 115. Synchronization between the UEs 115 and basestations 105 may be impeded with sustained resource overhead beingdedicated between the base stations and the respective serving MMES ofthe UEs 115. The provided features of the present disclosure includeadditional methods and features for enacting distinct RRC signalingtransmission and reception between the UEs 115 and base stations 105.The signaling may solicit and acknowledge dormancy state implementationat the UEs 115, while sustaining synchronous interpretation at the basestations 105 and obviating an autonomous connection release procedure atthe UEs 115. An advantage of these provided features may includeproviding a graceful transition to a dormancy state for a UE 115 thatreduces the overall signaling required between a UE 115 and a basestation 105 upon reactivation or resuming the connection between the UE115 and the base station 105.

One or more of the UEs 115 within wireless communications system 100 mayinclude a modem and one or more configured application processors. Theapplication processors may be coupled to the UE 115 via a command basedbinary protocol interface (e.g., MSM interface) and may provideindication parameters for enabling and suspending a dormancy state atthe UE 115, including a power state indication (e.g., for a batterypower level). For example, an application processor of a UE 115 mayprovide indication of a power level status below a preconfiguredthreshold. The modem of the of the UE 115 may evaluate one or moreservice operations and determine a lack of data activity over theestablished network connection. In accordance with the inactivitydetection at the modem and the signaling indication of the coupledapplications, the UEs 115 may solicit procedure for enacting a dormancystate implementation at the UEs 115, as a means to promote battery powerconservation.

In some examples, each of the UEs 115 may be coupled to a networkdatabase of the EPS connection. The database may be established locallywithin the data hardware of each UE 115 or remotely via a linkconnection. The database may include static and/or dynamic memoryallocation designated for each of the UEs 115. In the case of dormancystate implementation, each of the UEs 115 may cache at least securitycontext and configuration parameterization of the PDN connectivitywithin an RRC connected state implementation at the UEs 115. Additionaldata context and authentication information corresponding to the UEs 115may be saved at the network database by the UEs 115 or a coupled networkentity (e.g., base stations 105, serving MME, HSS, etc.) of theestablished EPS connection.

Each of the base stations 105 may be configured to process the RRCsignaling messages of the UEs 115, in relation to dormancy stateinitialization and suspension requests. The signaling messages maycontain bit indication values for operation mode implementation at theUEs 115. The base stations 105 may evaluate the context of at least theestablished RRC connection and compose a response acknowledgment orrejection through distinct RRC signaling. The response acknowledgementor rejection of the base station may maintain synchronization betweenthe interpreted functional mode of the UEs 115 at the base stations 105and the implemented mode at the UEs 115. In some examples, each of thebase stations 105 may be configured to process Layer 1 signalingmessages of the UEs 115, in relation to dormancy state initializationand suspension requests. An advantage of utilizing Layer 1 signaling mayinclude enabling a quicker communication mechanism for requests andresponses between a base station 105 and UE 115 as compared to RRCsignaling.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 200that supports power savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Wirelesscommunications system 200 may be representative of at least asub-context of an established EPS. In some examples, wirelesscommunications system 200 may implement aspects of wirelesscommunications system 100. For instance, wireless communications system200 includes UE 115-a and base station 105-a, which may be examples ofthe corresponding devices described with reference to FIG. 1. Wirelesscommunications system 200 may support efficient battery conservation ata UE 115 through coherent signaling used to transition to and from adormancy state.

UE 115-a may be synchronized with base station 105-a and camped on aconfigured network cell of the EPS connection. UE 115-a may have anestablished RRC connection with base station 105-a and may be configuredto receive and transmit information 205 over licensed and unlicensed(shared) radio frequency spectrum band resources. Additional bearercontexts may be allocated to UE 115-a as part of PDN connectivity, toestablish end-to-end connectivity between UE 115-a and the P-GW of theservice network.

One or more application processors may be coupled to UE 115-a, as ameans to at least detect parameterization values associated withfunctional components and/or operable status at UE 115-a. For example,an application processor may evaluate a battery power state of UE 115-a,and determine the operable battery capacity is below a configured powerthreshold. The application may transmit an indication of the batterystatus to a modem of UE 115-a, via a configured MSM interface of UE115-a, and enact command instructions associated with one or moreprotocols of the interface. The modem may interpret the receivedindication of the application, and analyze the configured channels ofthe established connection as well as the scheduling operation at UE115-a. Based on the analysis, the modem may determine an absence ofsignaling communication at the UE 115-a in accordance with theestablished network connection. In some cases, the modem may implement atiming duration for determining the signaling absence. The timing may beconfigured according to the EPC mobile management entity (MME) sublayerof the network access stratum (NAS) protocol and may be based at leastin part on the bearer assignment (e.g., EPS bearer) of the packet datanetwork (PDN) connectivity establishment as well as the configuredprotocols of the RRC connection establishment.

Following the signaling inactivity determination of the modem, UE 115-amay transmit a distinct connection suspend request 210 to base station105-a for at least acknowledgment and confirmation of a dormancy stateimplementation at UE 115-a. Connection suspend request 210 maycorrespond to a single bit command indication soliciting a switch to apower saving mode (e.g., dormancy state) at UE 115-a, and may includeone or more additional bit indicators corresponding to a priorityindication and/or enactment duration of the dormancy state. In somecases, UE 115-a may signal the connection suspend request via UL DCCHresources over SRB 1 configured between base station 105-a and UE 115-a.For example, UE 115-a may configure a bit indication within a fieldstructure of a distinct UL DCCH message indication. The bit indicationmay have a designated numerical or boolean value representative of adormancy state request. Additionally, UE 115-a may include one or moreadditional bit value indicators within the request message, as a meansto indicate priority and/or duration values associated with the dormancystate request. UE 115-a may include spare bits within the fieldstructure of the DCCH mapping for the purpose of padding to octetboundaries (e.g., octet aligned) of the message indication, and forensuring forward capability on DCCH resources.

In other cases, UE 115-a may implement a distinct bit string (e.g., MACCE) within a MAC PDU for control indication regarding the request forcontrol command exchange between UE 115-a and base station 105-a. Forexample, UE 115-a may submit a DL MAC PDU to base station 105-a toconvey control and data indication, including a request to enact adormancy state at UE 115-a, within one or more concatenated MAC inputs.The MAC CE may span a fixed number of bits (e.g., the MAC CE may be afixed size), and may be allocated a unique logical channel ID (LCD) bitstring contained within a MAC subheader. The field structure of theindicated MAC CE may be structured according to CCs of the channel, inassociation with enabled CA implementation at the UE 115-a.Specifically, UE 115-a may provide a bit indication within the MAC CEaccording to each CC of the channel. The payload of the MAC CE indicatedby UE 115-a may include additional reserved bit elements mapped withinthe field structure of the MAC CE, as a means to indicate priorityand/or duration values (e.g., indicating how long the UE will need orwould like to be in the dormancy state) associated with the dormancystate request. For example, UE 115-a may configure a unique, 8 bit MACCE to request dormancy state implementation at the UE 115-a. UE 115-amay allocate the MAC CE within a subheader of a DL MAC PDU, and definethe field structure of the one or more contained bits of the MAC CEaccording to at least CA properties of the channel. In the case of 4 CCsspanning the CA bandwidth of the channel, UE 115-a may define the fieldmapping within the MAC CE for each of the 4 bits corresponding to theCCs. UE 115-a may reserve the additional 4 bits of the MAC CE as a meansto ensure padding to octet boundaries (e.g., octet alignment) within thefield mapping of the MAC CE, and therefore ensure forward capabilitywithin the MAC PDU. In some cases, the additional reserve bits of theMAC CE may contain priority and/or duration indication regarding therequested dormancy state implementation at UE 115-a.

Alternatively, in additional cases, UE 115-a may map the one or morecomprised bits associated with the connection suspend request within UCIresources of an UL data transmission over PDCCH and/or PUSCH resources.Specifically, UE 115-a may configure a bit indication within thereserved UCI mapping on allocated resource blocks scheduled for UL datatransmission. The bit indication may have a designated numerical orboolean value representative of at least a request for dormancy stateinitialization or suspension. For example, UE 115-a may configure thebit indication of the UCI to a bit value of 1 for the connection suspendrequest. UE 115-a may include one or more additional allocated bitswithin the UCI mapping, as a means to indicate priority and/or durationvalues associated with the dormancy state request. In some cases, UE115-a may time multiplex one or more demodulation reference signal(DMRS) symbols within the allocated resource blocks of the transmission,and sustain contiguous signaling despite frequency diversity. UE 115-amay orient the UCI, including the configured bit indication of theconnection suspend request to resource elements proximal to themultiplexed DMRS symbols of the allocated resource blocks, for at leastchannel indication reliability and data acknowledgement.

Base station 105-a may receive the one or more of the aforementionedsignaling indications of the connection suspend request 210 from UE115-a, including the contained bit request for enacting a dormancy stateat UE 115-a. Base station 105-a may process and interpret the containedcommand indication of the message payload and evaluate the context of atleast the established RRC connection with UE 115-a. Based at least inpart on the interpretation and evaluation, base station 105-a maycompose a response 215 to the connection suspend request. Base station105-a may signal response 215 via DCCH resources over SRB 1. In somecases, base station 105-a may compose a response transmission containinga positive acknowledgement of the dormancy state request of UE 115-a, aswell as confirmation for subsequent enablement of the dormancy state.Alternatively, base station 105-a may compose a response transmissionincluding a connection suspend rejection associated with the RRC contextof UE 115-a. The suspend rejection may include additional commandinstructions to sustain an RRC connected state at UE 115-a. The responseacknowledgement or rejection of base station 105-a, in correspondencewith the reception of the distinct connection suspend request message ofUE 115-a, may maintain synchronization between the interpretedfunctional mode of UE 115-a at base station 105-a and the subsequentlyimplemented mode at UE 115-a.

UE 115-a may receive, from base station 105-a, the transmitted response215 and determine a mode of operation in accordance with the submittedcommand indication. In the case of a connection suspend acknowledgmentand confirmation message, UE 115-a may cache one or more securitycontext and/or configuration parameters of the established RRCconnection with base station 105-a and additional bearer connections ofthe data network. In addition, based at least in part on the connectionsuspension confirmation of base station 105-a, UE 115-a may enter aconfigured dormancy state. In some cases, the caching operation of UE115-a may include storing the aforementioned context parameters of theconnection within static and/or dynamically allocated data storage of adatabase coupled to UE 115-a. The database may be locally orientedwithin the hardware of UE 115-a, or may be remotely coupled to UE 115-avia an application processor and/or device interface. Additionally oralternatively, additional storage resources may be deployed at thepacket data network gateway (P-GW) and/or serving gateway (e.g., Layer 2caching) elements of the PDN and in association with UE 115-a, or withinavailable resources at base station 105-a (e.g., Layer 1 caching). Theimplemented dormancy state at UE 115-a may allow UE 115-a to operatewith limited power consumption by obviating data traffic over PHY layerresources, while sustaining RRC connectivity establishment with basestation 105-a. Alternatively, in the case of a connection suspendrejection message, UE 115-a may sustain an RRC connected state of UE115-a and permit continued data transaction with base station 105-a. Insome cases, the connection suspend rejection message may include atiming offset indication within the message payload. Based at least inpart on the offset parameter, UE 115-a may ignore one or more datainactivity detections at the modem or device status indications of theone or more configured application processors associated with UE 115-a,over the specified duration.

UE 115-a may receive a trigger indication over the MSM interface via oneor more coupled application processors configured to UE 115-a, and/orvia upper layer (NAS) request services of the EPS. The trigger mayinclude one or more indications for data connection re-establishment atUE 115-a. The modem of UE 115-a may process the application processorindication or the encapsulated short message service (SMS) entitytransport of the upper layer request, and configure a connection resumerequest 220 to base station 105-a. UE 115-a may signal connection resumerequest 220 via UL DCCH resources over SRB 1 configured between basestation 105-a and UE 115-a. For example, UE 115-a may configure a bitindication within a field structure of a distinct UL DCCH messageindication. The bit indication may have a designated numerical orboolean value representative of a connection (e.g., RRC connected state)resume request. For example, UE 115-a may configure the bit indicationof the UCI to a bit value of 0 for the connection resume requestAdditionally, UE 115-a may include one or more additional bit valueindicators within the request message, as a means to indicate priorityand/or duration values associated with the connection resume request. UE115-a may include spare bits within the field structure of the DCCHmapping for the purpose of padding to octet boundaries (e.g., octetaligned) of the message indication, and for ensuring forward capabilityon DCCH resources.

Base station 105-a may receive one or more of the aforementionedconnection resume request signaling indications of the connection resumerequest 220, including the contained bit request for re-establishingdata connectivity via an RRC connected configuration at UE 115-a. Basestation 105-a may process and interpret the contained command indicationof the message payload and evaluate the context of the established PDNconnection. Based at least in part on the indication and evaluation,base station 105-a may transmit a response 225 to the connection resumerequest, over DL DCCH resources.

In some cases, base station 105-a may respond via a distinct connectionresume confirmation message over SRB 1. Within the payload of the resumeconfirmation message, base station 105-a may provide commandinstructions for instituting the cached security context and dedicatedparameters of the established network connectivity. Alternatively, basestation 105-a may present a new security context and dedicatedparameters of the connection within the payload of the connection resumeconfirmation message. Each of the security context and dedicatedconnection parameters may be configured within the field structure ofthe DCCH message indication. UE 115-a may then implement procedure forre-enacting the previously established RRC connected state of UE 115-a,in accordance with either the cached or newly indicated parameters.

In other cases, base station 105-a may initiate an RRC connectionrelease procedure corresponding to UE 115-a. Specifically, base station105-a may provide a context release request to the serving MME of UE115-a, via the S1-MME interface. The MME may enact procedure to teardown the EPS bearers of the established connection at UE 115-a, viacommunication with the S-GW. Based at least in part on the bearerrelease, the RRC connection of UE 115-a may be terminated, and basestation 105-a may provide an RRC connection release indication to UE115-a. As a result, UE 115-a may transition to an RRC Idle mode on acamped cell of the network. The response acknowledgement or rejection ofbase station 105-a, in correspondence with the reception of the distinctconnection resume request message of UE 115-a, may maintainsynchronization between the interpreted functional mode of UE 115-a atbase station 105-a and the implemented mode at UE 115-a.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a process flow 300 in a system thatsupports power savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, process flow 300 may implement aspects of wirelesscommunications system 100. For example, process flow 300 includes UE115-b and base station 105-b, which may be examples of the correspondingdevices described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Process flow 300 maysupport maintained synchronization between UE 115-b and base station105-b following a transition to a dormancy state by UE 115-b.Additionally, the transition to the dormancy state may be preemptivelyrequested by UE 115-b, where base station 105-b may respond with aconfirmation or denial of the requested transition.

At 305, a modem of UE 115-b may process received signaling indicationand command instructions corresponding to a battery status of UE 115-b.The signaling may be directed from a coupled application processor of UE115-b and may be received over an MSM interface context of UE 115-b. Themodem may interpret the received command instructions of theapplication, and analyze sources of the configured channels of theestablished connection as well as the scheduling operation at UE 115-b.Based at least in part on the analysis, the modem may determine anabsence of data transaction at UE 115-b. In some examples, the modem ofUE 115-b or another component of UE 115-b may process received signalingindication and command instructions corresponding to an aspect of UE115.b other than a battery status of UE 115-b for determining totransition to the dormancy state. For example, the UE 115-b maydetermine to transition to the dormancy state based on processingresources and associated UE 115-b activities or applications that do notrequire an active connection to base station 105-b irrespective of abattery status.

Following the determination at the modem, UE 115-b may transmit aconnection suspend request message 310 to base station 105-b. Therequest message may correspond to a single bit command indicationsoliciting a switch to a power saving mode (e.g., dormancy state) at UE115-a, and may include one or more additional bit indicatorscorresponding to a priority indication and/or enactment duration of thedormancy state. In some cases, UE 115-b may signal the connectionsuspend request to base station 105-b via an UL dedicated controlchannel (DCCH) transmission over signaling radio bearer (SRB) 1,configured during RRC connection establishment. In other cases, UE 115-bmay implement a distinct bit string (e.g., medium access control (MAC)control element (CE)) to carry control indication of the request forcontrol command exchange between UE 115-b and base station 105-b overMAC layer protocols. Alternatively, in other cases, UE 115-b may map theone or more comprised bits of the connection suspend request inalignment with uplink control information (UCI) indication on PHYresources. The request may be mapped to one or more configured resourceelements of allocated resource blocks within physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) and/or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources.

Base station 105-b may receive the transmitted signaling and/orsubmitting indication of the connection suspend request message 310,including the contained bit value corresponding to a request forenacting a dormancy state at UE 115-b. Base station 105-b may evaluatethe context of at least the established RRC connection with UE 115-b andtransmit a response message 315 to the connection suspend request overDL DCCH resources. Response message 315 may include a positiveacknowledgment of the dormancy state request of UE 115-b andconfirmation for subsequent enablement of a power saving mode at UE115-b. Accordingly, the base station 105-b may initiate a transition toa dormancy state with UE 115-b prior to expiration of an inactivitytimer.

At 320, UE 115-b may receive from base station 105-b the transmittedresponse message 315 and enter a configured dormancy state of UE 115-b.UE 115-b may enact the operational state change at UE 115-b inaccordance with the submitted command indication of response message315, including the acknowledgement and confirmation of dormancy stateimplementation at UE 115-b. UE 115-b may cache, within a coupleddatabase of the wireless system, security context and configurationparameters of the established RRC connection with base station 105-b andadditional layer protocols of the established network connection.

At 325, UE 115-b may process a trigger indication from the one or morecoupled application processors of UE 115-b and/or upper layer (e.g.,NAS) request services of EPC entities. The trigger indication mayinitiate connection re-establishment procedure at UE 115-b. UE 115-b maytransmit a connection resume request message 330 via DL DCCH resourcesover SRB 1. The connection resume request message may be a single ormulti-bit indication within the bit field structure comprising the DCCHtransmission.

Base station 105-b may receive the transmitted connection resume requestmessage 330 and process the command information contained withinconnection resume request message 330, including the contained bitrequest for re-establishing an RRC connected state at UE 115-b. Basestation 105-b may then respond with a connection resume response message335. In some cases, connection resume response message 335 may entail anRRC connected state re-establishment confirmation. Within the messagepayload corresponding to the resume confirmation, base station 105-b mayprovide command instructions for instituting the cached security contextand dedicated parameters of the established network connectivity orpresent a new security context and dedicated parameters of theconnection. Alternatively, base station 105-b may initiate an RRCconnection release procedure at UE 115-b, and connection resume responsemessage 335 may entail an RRC connection release indication for UE115-b.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram 400 of a wireless device 405 that supportspower savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 405 may be anexample of aspects of a UE 115 as described herein. Wireless device 405may include receiver 410, UE communications manager 415, and transmitter420. Wireless device 405 may also include a processor. Each of thesecomponents may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one ormore buses).

Receiver 410 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to enhancedpower savings through mobile initiated dormancy, etc.). Information maybe passed on to other components of the device. The receiver 410 may bean example of aspects of the transceiver 735 described with reference toFIG. 7. The receiver 410 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

UE communications manager 415 may be an example of aspects of the UEcommunications manager 715 described with reference to FIG. 7. UEcommunications manager 415 and/or at least some of its varioussub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executed by aprocessor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the UE communicationsmanager 415 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may beexecuted by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), anfield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described in thepresent disclosure.

The UE communications manager 415 and/or at least some of its varioussub-components may be physically located at various positions, includingbeing distributed such that portions of functions are implemented atdifferent physical locations by one or more physical devices. In someexamples, UE communications manager 415 and/or at least some of itsvarious sub-components may be a separate and distinct component inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In otherexamples, UE communications manager 415 and/or at least some of itsvarious sub-components may be combined with one or more other hardwarecomponents, including but not limited to an I/O component, atransceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or moreother components described in the present disclosure, or a combinationthereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

UE communications manager 415 may identify that a power level of a UE115 is below a power threshold (e.g., a predetermined power threshold),transmit a connection suspend request to a base station based on theidentification, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115from a connected state to a dormancy state, and receive, from the basestation, a response to the connection suspend request indicating whetherthe UE 115 is to transition to the dormancy state.

Transmitter 420 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 420 may be collocated witha receiver 410 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 420may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 735 described withreference to FIG. 7. The transmitter 420 may utilize a single antenna ora set of antennas.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram 500 of a wireless device 505 that supportspower savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 505 may be anexample of aspects of a wireless device 405 or a UE 115 as describedwith reference to FIG. 4. Wireless device 505 may include receiver 510,UE communications manager 515, and transmitter 520. Wireless device 505may also include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 510 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to enhancedpower savings through mobile initiated dormancy, etc.). Information maybe passed on to other components of the device. The receiver 510 may bean example of aspects of the transceiver 735 described with reference toFIG. 7. The receiver 510 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

UE communications manager 515 may be an example of aspects of the UEcommunications manager 715 described with reference to FIG. 7. UEcommunications manager 515 may also include UE power manager 525,connection suspend request component 530, and UE dormancy manager 535.

UE power manager 525 may identify that a power level of a UE 115 isbelow a power threshold (e.g., a predetermined power threshold). Forexample, UE power manager 525 may identify that a battery level or otheravailable power level for a power source of the UE 115 is below athreshold power level. Connection suspend request component 530 maytransmit a connection suspend request to a base station based on theidentification, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115from a connected state to a dormancy state. In some cases, theconnection suspend request includes an indication of a duration for thedormancy state, or a priority for the transition to the dormancy state,or a request to store a security context for the UE 115, or a request tostore one or more connection parameters for the UE 115, or a combinationthereof. In some cases, the connection suspend request includes anuplink DCCH message.

UE dormancy manager 535 may receive, from the base station 105, aresponse to the connection suspend request indicating whether the UE 115is to transition to the dormancy state. In some examples, the UEdormancy manager 535 may determine whether to transition to the dormancystate based on the received response to the connection suspend request.In other examples, the UE dormancy manager 535 may enter a modem of theUE 115 into the dormancy state (i.e., cause the modem of the UE 115 toenter into the dormancy state), where the response includes aconfirmation of the connection suspend request. In some examples, the UEdormancy manager 535 may determine, while in the dormancy state, toresume communications with the base station, and receive, from the basestation, a response to the connection resume request confirming theconnection resume request. In some cases, the response to the connectionsuspend request includes a downlink DCCH message. In some cases, theconnection suspend request, or the response to the connection suspendrequest, or a connection resume request, or a response to the connectionresume request are sent using an RRC message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the Layer 1 signaling includesuplink control information within a PUCCH, or UCI within a PUSCH, or anuplink MAC CE, or a combination thereof.

Transmitter 520 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 520 may be collocated witha receiver 510 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 520may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 735 described withreference to FIG. 7. The transmitter 520 may utilize a single antenna ora set of antennas.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram 600 of a UE communications manager 615 thatsupports power savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The UE communicationsmanager 615 may be an example of aspects of a UE communications manager415, a UE communications manager 515, or a UE communications manager 715described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, and 7. The UE communicationsmanager 615 may include UE power manager 620, connection suspend requestcomponent 625, UE dormancy manager 630, UE state manager 635, andconnection resume request component 640. Each of these modules maycommunicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one ormore buses).

UE power manager 620 may identify that a power level of a UE 115 isbelow a power threshold. Connection suspend request component 625 maytransmit a connection suspend request to a base station based on theidentification, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115from a connected state to a dormancy state. In some cases, theconnection suspend request includes an indication of a duration for thedormancy state, or a priority for the transition to the dormancy state,or a request to store a security context for the UE 115, or a request tostore one or more connection parameters for the UE 115, or a combinationthereof. In some cases, the connection suspend request includes anuplink DCCH message.

UE dormancy manager 630 may receive, from the base station 105, aresponse to the connection suspend request indicating whether the UE 115is to transition to the dormancy state. In some examples, UE dormancymanager 630 may determine whether to transition to the dormancy statebased on the received response to the connection suspend request. Insome cases, UE dormancy manager 630 may enter a modem of the UE 115 intothe dormancy state (i.e., cause the modem of the UE 115 to enter intothe dormancy state), where the response includes a confirmation of theconnection suspend request. In some examples, UE dormancy manager 630may determine, while in the dormancy state, to resume communicationswith the base station 105, and receive, from the base station 105, aresponse to the connection resume request confirming the connectionresume request. In some cases, the response to the connection suspendrequest includes a downlink DCCH message.

UE state manager 635 may transition from the connected state to thedormancy state based on the response to the connection suspend request,where the response includes a confirmation of the connection suspendrequest. Alternatively, UE state manager 635 may maintain the connectedstate based on the response to the connection suspend request, where theresponse includes a denial of the connection suspend request. In someexamples, UE state manager 635 may transition to an idle state based onthe response to the connection suspend request, where the responseincludes a denial of the connection suspend request. In some examples,UE state manager 635 may transition from the connected state to thedormancy state based on the response to the connection suspend request,and transition from the dormancy state to the connected state based onthe confirmation of a connection resume request.

Connection resume request component 640 may transmit, to the basestation 105, a connection resume request to transition from the dormancystate to the connected state. In some cases, the connection suspendrequest, or the response to the connection suspend request, or aconnection resume request, or a response to the connection resumerequest are sent using an RRC message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the Layer 1 signaling includesuplink control information within a PUCCH, or the uplink controlinformation within a PUSCH, or an uplink MAC CE, or a combinationthereof.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a system 700 including a device705 that supports power savings (e.g., through mobile initiateddormancy) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device705 may be an example of or include the components of wireless device405, wireless device 505, or a UE 115 as described above, e.g., withreference to FIGS. 4 and 5. Device 705 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, including UE communicationsmanager 715, processor 720, memory 725, software 730, transceiver 735,antenna 740, and I/O controller 745. These components may be inelectronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 710). Device705 may communicate wirelessly with one or more base stations 105.

Processor 720 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, adiscrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 720 maybe configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller. Inother cases, a memory controller may be integrated into processor 720.Processor 720 may be configured to execute computer-readableinstructions stored in a memory to perform various functions (e.g.,functions or tasks supporting enhanced power savings through mobileinitiated dormancy).

Memory 725 may include random access memory (RAM) and read only memory(ROM). The memory 725 may store computer-readable, computer-executablesoftware 730 including instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to perform various functions described herein. In some cases,the memory 725 may contain, among other things, a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) which may control basic hardware or software operationsuch as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Software 730 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support enhanced power savings throughmobile initiated dormancy. Software 730 may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or othermemory. In some cases, the software 730 may not be directly executableby the processor but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

Transceiver 735 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 735 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicatebi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 735may also include a modem to modulate the packets and provide themodulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and to demodulatepackets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 740.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 740,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

I/O controller 745 may manage input and output signals for device 705.I/O controller 745 may also manage peripherals not integrated intodevice 705. In some cases, I/O controller 745 may represent a physicalconnection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, I/Ocontroller 745 may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®,MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, or another known operatingsystem. In other cases, I/O controller 745 may represent or interactwith a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device.In some cases, I/O controller 745 may be implemented as part of aprocessor. In some cases, a user may interact with device 705 via I/Ocontroller 745 or via hardware components controlled by I/O controller745.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a wireless device 805 that supportspower savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 805 may be anexample of aspects of a base station 105 as described herein. Wirelessdevice 805 may include receiver 810, base station communications manager815, and transmitter 820. Wireless device 805 may also include aprocessor. Each of these components may be in communication with oneanother (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 810 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to enhancedpower savings through mobile initiated dormancy, etc.). Information maybe passed on to other components of the device. The receiver 810 may bean example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described with referenceto FIG. 11. The receiver 810 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

Base station communications manager 815 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station communications manager 1115 described with reference toFIG. 11. Base station communications manager 815 and/or at least some ofits various sub-components may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions of thebase station communications manager 815 and/or at least some of itsvarious sub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, aDSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gateor transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described in the presentdisclosure.

The base station communications manager 815 and/or at least some of itsvarious sub-components may be physically located at various positions,including being distributed such that portions of functions areimplemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, base station communications manager 815and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be a separate anddistinct component in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In other examples, base station communications manager 815and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be combined withone or more other hardware components, including but not limited to anI/O component, a transceiver, a network server, another computingdevice, one or more other components described in the presentdisclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure.

Base station communications manager 815 may receive a connection suspendrequest from a UE 115, the connection suspend request to transition theUE 115 from a connected state to a dormancy state, determine whether toallow the UE 115 to transition to the dormancy state based on theconnection suspend request, and transmit a response to the connectionsuspend request to the UE 115, the response including, based on thedetermination, a confirmation of the connection suspend request or adenial of the connection suspend request.

Transmitter 820 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 820 may be collocated witha receiver 810 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 820may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described withreference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 820 may utilize a single antennaor a set of antennas.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a wireless device 905 that supportspower savings (e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device 905 may be anexample of aspects of a wireless device 805 or a base station 105 asdescribed with reference to FIG. 8. Wireless device 905 may includereceiver 910, base station communications manager 915, and transmitter920. Wireless device 905 may also include a processor. Each of thesecomponents may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one ormore buses).

Receiver 910 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to enhancedpower savings through mobile initiated dormancy, etc.). Information maybe passed on to other components of the device. The receiver 910 may bean example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described with referenceto FIG. 11. The receiver 910 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

Base station communications manager 915 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station communications manager 1115 described with reference toFIG. 11. Base station communications manager 915 may also includeconnectivity manager 925, base station dormancy manager 930, andresponse manager 935.

Connectivity manager 925 may receive a connection suspend request from aUE 115, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115 from aconnected state to a dormancy state. In some examples, connectivitymanager 925 may determine to allow the UE 115 to transition to thedormancy state, where the response to the connection suspend requestincludes the confirmation of the connection suspend request. In somecases, connectivity manager 925 may receive, from the UE 115, aconnection resume request to transition the UE 115 from the dormancystate to the connected state. Connectivity manager 925 may determine todeny the UE 115 to transition to the dormancy state, where the responseto the connection suspend request includes the denial of the connectionsuspend request. In some examples, connectivity manager 925 maytransmit, based on receiving the connection suspend request, a commandfor the UE 115 to transition to an idle state. In some cases, theconnection suspend request, or the response to the connection suspendrequest, or a connection resume request, or a response to the connectionresume request are sent using an RRC message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the Layer 1 signaling includesuplink control information within a PUCCH, or the uplink controlinformation within a PUSCH, or an uplink MAC CE, or a combinationthereof. In some cases, the connection suspend request includes anuplink DCCH message.

Base station dormancy manager 930 may identify, based on the receivedconnection suspend request, an indication of a duration that the UE 115will be in the dormancy state, or a priority associated with thetransition to the dormancy state, or a request to cache a UE securitycontext, or a request to cache one or more UE connection parameters, ora combination thereof and determine whether to allow the UE 115 totransition to the dormancy state based on the connection suspendrequest.

Response manager 935 may transmit a response to the connection suspendrequest to the UE, the response including, based on the determination, aconfirmation of the connection suspend request, or a denial of theconnection suspend request, and transmit a response to the connectionresume request to the UE confirming the connection resume request. Insome cases, the response to the connection suspend request includes adownlink DCCH message.

Transmitter 920 may transmit signals generated by other components ofthe device. In some examples, the transmitter 920 may be collocated witha receiver 910 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 920may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described withreference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 920 may utilize a single antennaor a set of antennas.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram 1000 of a base station communicationsmanager 1015 that supports power savings (e.g., through mobile initiateddormancy) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The basestation communications manager 1015 may be an example of aspects of abase station communications manager 1115 described with reference toFIGS. 8, 9, and 11. The base station communications manager 1015 mayinclude connectivity manager 1020, base station dormancy manager 1025,response manager 1030, and cache component 1035. Each of these modulesmay communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via oneor more buses).

Connectivity manager 1020 may receive a connection suspend request froma UE 115, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115 from aconnected state to a dormancy state. In some examples, connectivitymanager 1020 may determine to allow the UE 115 to transition to thedormancy state, where the response to the connection suspend requestincludes the confirmation of the connection suspend request. In somecases, connectivity manager 1020 may receive, from the UE 115, aconnection resume request to transition the UE 115 from the dormancystate to the connected state. Connectivity manager 1020 may determine todeny the UE 115 to transition to the dormancy state, where the responseto the connection suspend request includes the denial of the connectionsuspend request. In some examples, connectivity manager 1020 maytransmit, based on receiving the connection suspend request, a commandfor the UE 115 to transition to an idle state. In some cases, theconnection suspend request, or the response to the connection suspendrequest, or a connection resume request, or a response to the connectionresume request are sent using an RRC message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof. In some cases, the Layer 1 signaling includesuplink control information within a PUCCH, or the uplink controlinformation within a PUSCH, or an uplink MAC CE, or a combinationthereof. In some cases, the connection suspend request includes anuplink DCCH message.

Base station dormancy manager 1025 may identify, based on the receivedconnection suspend request, an indication of a duration that the UE 115will be in the dormancy state, or a priority associated with thetransition to the dormancy state, or a request to cache a UE securitycontext, or a request to cache one or more UE connection parameters, ora combination thereof and determine whether to allow the UE 115 totransition to the dormancy state based on the connection suspendrequest.

Response manager 1030 may transmit a response to the connection suspendrequest to the UE, the response including, based on the determination, aconfirmation of the connection suspend request, or a denial of theconnection suspend request, and transmit a response to the connectionresume request to the UE 115 confirming the connection resume request.In some cases, the response to the connection suspend request includes adownlink DCCH message.

Cache component 1035 may store, by the base station based on receivingthe connection suspend request, one or more communication parametervalues for the UE. In some cases, storing the one or more communicationparameter values includes storing a security context of the UE 115.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a system 1100 including a device1105 that supports power savings (e.g., through mobile initiateddormancy) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device1105 may be an example of or include the components of base station 105as described above, e.g., with reference to FIG. 1. Device 1105 mayinclude components for bi-directional voice and data communicationsincluding components for transmitting and receiving communications,including base station communications manager 1115, processor 1120,memory 1125, software 1130, transceiver 1135, antenna 1140, networkcommunications manager 1145, and inter-station communications manager1150. These components may be in electronic communication via one ormore buses (e.g., bus 1110). Device 1105 may communicate wirelessly withone or more UEs 115.

Processor 1120 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, processor 1120 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into processor 1120. Processor 1120 may be configured toexecute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory to performvarious functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting enhanced powersavings through mobile initiated dormancy).

Memory 1125 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1125 may storecomputer-readable, computer-executable software 1130 includinginstructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform variousfunctions described herein. In some cases, the memory 1125 may contain,among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware or softwareoperation such as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Software 1130 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support power savings techniques, forexample, through mobile initiated dormancy. Software 1130 may be storedin a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory orother memory. In some cases, the software 1130 may not be directlyexecutable by the processor but may cause a computer (e.g., whencompiled and executed) to perform functions described herein.

Transceiver 1135 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 1135 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1135 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and todemodulate packets received from the antennas. In some cases, thewireless device may include a single antenna 1140. However, in somecases the device may have more than one antenna 1140, which may becapable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiple wirelesstransmissions.

Network communications manager 1145 may manage communications with thecore network (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example,the network communications manager 1145 may manage the transfer of datacommunications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

Inter-station communications manager 1150 may manage communications withother base station 105, and may include a controller or scheduler forcontrolling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with other basestations 105. For example, the inter-station communications manager 1150may coordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, inter-station communications manager1150 may provide an X2 interface within a Long Term Evolution(LTE)/LTE-A wireless communication network technology to providecommunication between base stations 105.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1200 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1200 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1200 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1205 the UE 115 may identify that a power level of the UE 115 isbelow a power threshold. The operations of 1205 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of 1205 may be performed by a UE power manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1210 the UE 115 may transmit a connection suspend request to a basestation 105 based at least in part on the identification, the connectionsuspend request to transition the UE from a connected state to adormancy state. The operations of 1210 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof 1210 may be performed by a connection suspend request component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1215 the UE 115 may receive, from the base station, a response to theconnection suspend request indicating whether the UE 115 is totransition to the dormancy state. The operations of 1215 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1215 may be performed by a UEdormancy manager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1300 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1300 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1300 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1305 the UE 115 may identify that a power level of the UE 115 isbelow a power threshold. The operations of 1305 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of 1305 may be performed by a UE power manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1310 the UE 115 may transmit a connection suspend request to a basestation 105 based at least in part on the identification, the connectionsuspend request to transition the UE 115 from a connected state to adormancy state. The operations of 1310 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof 1310 may be performed by a connection suspend request component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1315 the UE 115 may receive, from the base station 105, a response tothe connection suspend request indicating whether the UE 115 is totransition to the dormancy state, wherein the response comprises aconfirmation of the connection suspend request. The operations of 1315may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1315 may be performed by a UEdormancy manager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1320 the UE 115 may transition from the connected state to thedormancy state based at least in part on the response to the connectionsuspend request. The operations of 1320 may be performed according tothe methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of 1320 may be performed by a UE state manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1325 the UE 115 may enter a modem of the UE 115 into the dormancystate (i.e., cause the modem of the UE 115 to enter into the dormancystate). The operations of 1325 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1325may be performed by a UE dormancy manager as described with reference toFIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1400 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1400 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1400 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1405 the UE 115 may identify that a power level of the UE 115 isbelow a power threshold. The operations of 1405 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of 1405 may be performed by a UE power manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1410 the UE 115 may transmit a connection suspend request to a basestation 105 based at least in part on the identification, the connectionsuspend request to transition the UE 115 from a connected state to adormancy state. The operations of 1410 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof 1410 may be performed by a connection suspend request component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1415 the UE 115 may receive, from the base station 105, a response tothe connection suspend request indicating whether the UE 115 is totransition to the dormancy state, wherein the response comprises adenial of the connection suspend request. The operations of 1415 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1415 may be performed by a UEdormancy manager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1420 the UE 115 may maintain the connected state based at least inpart on the response to the connection suspend request. The operationsof 1420 may be performed according to the methods described herein. Incertain examples, aspects of the operations of 1420 may be performed bya UE state manager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1500 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1500 may be implementedby a UE 115 or its components as described herein. For example, theoperations of method 1500 may be performed by a UE communicationsmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7. In someexamples, a UE 115 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the UE 115 may perform aspects of thefunctions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1505 the UE 115 may identify that a power level of the UE 115 isbelow a power threshold. The operations of 1505 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of 1505 may be performed by a UE power manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1510 the UE 115 may transmit a connection suspend request to a basestation 105 based at least in part on the identification, the connectionsuspend request to transition the UE 115 from a connected state to adormancy state. The operations of 1510 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof 1510 may be performed by a connection suspend request component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1515 the UE 115 may receive, from the base station 105, a response tothe connection suspend request indicating whether the UE 115 is totransition to the dormancy state. The operations of 1515 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1515 may be performed by a UEdormancy manager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1520 the UE 115 may transition from the connected state to thedormancy state based at least in part on the response to the connectionsuspend request. The operations of 1520 may be performed according tothe methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of 1520 may be performed by a UE state manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1525 the UE 115 may determine, while in the dormancy state, to resumecommunications with the base station 105. The operations of 1525 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1525 may be performed by a UEdormancy manager as described with reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

At 1530 the UE 115 may transmit, to the base station 105, a connectionresume request to transition from the dormancy state to the connectedstate. The operations of 1530 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 1530may be performed by a connection resume request component as describedwith reference to FIGS. 4 through 7.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1600 may be implementedby a base station 105 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1600 may be performed by a basestation communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set ofcodes to control the functional elements of the device to perform thefunctions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the basestation 105 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 1605 the base station 105 may receive a connection suspend requestfrom a UE 115, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115from a connected state to a dormancy state. The operations of 1605 maybe performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1605 may be performed by aconnectivity manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 1610 the base station 105 may determine whether to allow the UE 115to transition to the dormancy state based at least in part on theconnection suspend request. The operations of 1610 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of 1610 may be performed by a base station dormancymanager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 1615 the base station 105 may transmit a response to the connectionsuspend request to the UE 115, the response comprising, based at leastin part on the determination, a confirmation of the connection suspendrequest, or a denial of the connection suspend request. The operationsof 1615 may be performed according to the methods described herein. Incertain examples, aspects of the operations of 1615 may be performed bya response manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1700 may be implementedby a base station 105 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1700 may be performed by a basestation communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set ofcodes to control the functional elements of the device to perform thefunctions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the basestation 105 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 1705 the base station 105 may receive a connection suspend requestfrom a UE 115, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115from a connected state to a dormancy state. The operations of 1705 maybe performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1705 may be performed by aconnectivity manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 1710 the base station 105 may determine to allow the UE to transitionto the dormancy state. The operations of 1710 may be performed accordingto the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of 1710 may be performed by a connectivity manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 1715 the base station 105 may transmit a response to the connectionsuspend request to the UE, the response comprising, based at least inpart on the determination, a confirmation of the connection suspendrequest. The operations of 1715 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof 1715 may be performed by a response manager as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1800 for power savings(e.g., through mobile initiated dormancy) in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The operations of method 1800 may be implementedby a base station 105 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1800 may be performed by a basestation communications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11. In some examples, a base station 105 may execute a set ofcodes to control the functional elements of the device to perform thefunctions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the basestation 105 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 1805 the base station 105 may receive a connection suspend requestfrom a UE 115, the connection suspend request to transition the UE 115from a connected state to a dormancy state. The operations of 1805 maybe performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1805 may be performed by aconnectivity manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 1810 the base station 105 may identify, based at least in part on thereceived connection suspend request, an indication of a duration thatthe UE 115 will be in the dormancy state, or a priority associated withthe transition to the dormancy state, or a request to cache a UEsecurity context, or a request to cache one or more UE connectionparameters, or a combination thereof. The operations of 1810 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 1810 may be performed by a basestation dormancy manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

At 1815 the base station 105 may determine whether to allow the UE 115to transition to the dormancy state based at least in part on theconnection suspend request. The operations of 1815 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspectsof the operations of 1815 may be performed by a base station dormancymanager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 1820 the base station 105 may transmit a response to the connectionsuspend request to the UE 115, the response comprising, based at leastin part on the determination, a confirmation of the connection suspendrequest, or a denial of the connection suspend request. The operationsof 1820 may be performed according to the methods described herein. Incertain examples, aspects of the operations of 1820 may be performed bya response manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

It should be noted that the methods described above describe possibleimplementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearrangedor otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunications systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access(FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), singlecarrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as CDMA2000,Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000,IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may be commonly referredto as CDMA2000 1×, 1×, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to asCDMA2000 1×EV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system mayimplement a radio technology such as Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM).

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTSthat use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, NR, and GSM aredescribed in documents from the organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documentsfrom an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2”(3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other systems and radiotechnologies. While aspects of an LTE or an NR system may be describedfor purposes of example, and LTE or NR terminology may be used in muchof the description, the techniques described herein are applicablebeyond LTE or NR applications.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g.,several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs115 with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cellmay be associated with a lower-powered base station 105, as comparedwith a macro cell, and a small cell may operate in the same or different(e.g., licensed, unlicensed, etc.) frequency bands as macro cells. Smallcells may include pico cells, femto cells, and micro cells according tovarious examples. A pico cell, for example, may cover a small geographicarea and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with servicesubscriptions with the network provider. A femto cell may also cover asmall geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide restricted accessby UEs 115 having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs 115 in aclosed subscriber group (CSG), UEs 115 for users in the home, and thelike). An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNBfor a small cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, afemto eNB, or a home eNB. An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g., two,three, four, and the like) cells, and may also support communicationsusing one or multiple component carriers.

The wireless communications system 100 or systems described herein maysupport synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronousoperation, the base stations 105 may have similar frame timing, andtransmissions from different base stations 105 may be approximatelyaligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 mayhave different frame timing, and transmissions from different basestations 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniques described hereinmay be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operations.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the above description may berepresented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magneticfields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combinationthereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection withthe disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with ageneral-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discretegate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may bestored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are withinthe scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to thenature of software, functions described above can be implemented usingsoftware executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storagemedia and communication media including any medium that facilitatestransfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media maycomprise random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othernon-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired programcode means in the form of instructions or data structures and that canbe accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the softwareis transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD),floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items(e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or“one or more of”) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, alist of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BCor ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “basedon” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions.For example, an exemplary step that is described as “based on conditionA” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, asused herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manneras the phrase “based at least in part on.”

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label, or othersubsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appendeddrawings, describes example configurations and does not represent allthe examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of theclaims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous overother examples.” The detailed description includes specific details forthe purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques.These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of thedescribed examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the artto make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosurewill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other variations withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is notlimited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication at a userequipment (UE), comprising: identifying that a power level of the UE isbelow a power threshold; transmitting a connection suspend request to abase station based at least in part on the identification, theconnection suspend request to transition the UE from a connected stateto a dormancy state; and receiving, from the base station, a response tothe connection suspend request indicating whether the UE is totransition to the dormancy state.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining whether to transition to the dormancy statebased at least in part on the received response to the connectionsuspend request.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:transitioning from the connected state to the dormancy state based atleast in part on the response to the connection suspend request, whereinthe response comprises a confirmation of the connection suspend request.4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: maintaining the connectedstate based at least in part on the response to the connection suspendrequest, wherein the response comprises a denial of the connectionsuspend request.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:transitioning to an idle state based at least in part on the response tothe connection suspend request, wherein the response comprises a denialof the connection suspend request.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: entering a modem of the UE into the dormancy state, whereinthe response comprises a confirmation of the connection suspend request.7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transitioning from theconnected state to the dormancy state based at least in part on theresponse to the connection suspend request; determining, while in thedormancy state, to resume communications with the base station; andtransmitting, to the base station, a connection resume request totransition from the dormancy state to the connected state.
 8. The methodof claim 7, further comprising: receiving, from the base station, aresponse to the connection resume request confirming the connectionresume request; and transitioning from the dormancy state to theconnected state based at least in part on the confirmation.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the connection suspend request, or theresponse to the connection suspend request, or a connection resumerequest, or a response to the connection resume request are sent using aradio resource control (RRC) message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the Layer 1signaling comprises uplink control information within a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH), or the uplink control information within aphysical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or an uplink medium accesscontrol (MAC) control element (CE), or a combination thereof.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the connection suspend request comprises anindication of a duration for the dormancy state, or a priority for thetransition to the dormancy state, or a request to store a securitycontext for the UE, or a request to store one or more connectionparameters for the UE, or a combination thereof.
 12. The method of claim1, wherein: the connection suspend request comprises an uplink dedicatedcontrol channel (DCCH) message; and the response to the connectionsuspend request comprises a downlink DCCH message.
 13. A method forwireless communication at a base station, comprising: receiving aconnection suspend request from a user equipment (UE), the connectionsuspend request to transition the UE from a connected state to adormancy state; determining whether to allow the UE to transition to thedormancy state based at least in part on the connection suspend request;and transmitting a response to the connection suspend request to the UE,the response comprising, based at least in part on the determination, aconfirmation of the connection suspend request or a denial of theconnection suspend request.
 14. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: determining to allow the UE to transition to the dormancystate, wherein the response to the connection suspend request comprisesthe confirmation of the connection suspend request.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, further comprising: receiving, from the UE, a connectionresume request to transition the UE from the dormancy state to theconnected state; and transmitting a response to the connection resumerequest to the UE confirming the connection resume request.
 16. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: determining to deny the UE totransition to the dormancy state, wherein the response to the connectionsuspend request comprises the denial of the connection suspend request.17. The method of claim 13, further comprising: transmitting, based atleast in part on receiving the connection suspend request, a command forthe UE to transition to an idle state.
 18. The method of claim 13,further comprising: storing, by the base station based at least in parton receiving the connection suspend request, one or more communicationparameter values for the UE.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein storingthe one or more communication parameter values comprises: storing asecurity context of the UE.
 20. The method of claim 13, wherein theconnection suspend request, or the response to the connection suspendrequest, or a connection resume request, or a response to the connectionresume request are sent using a radio resource control (RRC) message, orLayer 1 signaling, or a combination thereof.
 21. The method of claim 20,wherein the Layer 1 signaling comprises uplink control informationwithin a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or the uplink controlinformation within a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or anuplink medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or acombination thereof.
 22. The method of claim 13, further comprising:identifying, based at least in part on the received connection suspendrequest, an indication of a duration that the UE will be in the dormancystate, or a priority associated with the transition to the dormancystate, or a request to cache a UE security context, or a request tocache one or more UE connection parameters, or a combination thereof.23. The method of claim 13, wherein: the connection suspend requestcomprises an uplink dedicated control channel (DCCH) message; and theresponse to the connection suspend request comprises a downlink DCCHmessage.
 24. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: meansfor identifying that a power level of a user equipment (UE) is below apower threshold; means for transmitting a connection suspend request toa base station based at least in part on the identification, theconnection suspend request to transition the UE from a connected stateto a dormancy state; and means for receiving, from the base station, aresponse to the connection suspend request indicating whether the UE isto transition to the dormancy state.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24,further comprising: means for determining whether to transition to thedormancy state based at least in part on the received response to theconnection suspend request.
 26. The apparatus of claim 24, furthercomprising: means for transitioning from the connected state to thedormancy state based at least in part on the response to the connectionsuspend request, wherein the response comprises a confirmation of theconnection suspend request.
 27. The apparatus of claim 24, furthercomprising: means for maintaining the connected state based at least inpart on the response to the connection suspend request, wherein theresponse comprises a denial of the connection suspend request.
 28. Theapparatus of claim 24, further comprising: means for transitioning to anidle state based at least in part on the response to the connectionsuspend request, wherein the response comprises a denial of theconnection suspend request.
 29. The apparatus of claim 24, furthercomprising: means for entering a modem of the UE into the dormancystate, wherein the response comprises a confirmation of the connectionsuspend request.
 30. The apparatus of claim 24, further comprising:means for transitioning from the connected state to the dormancy statebased at least in part on the response to the connection suspendrequest; means for determining, while in the dormancy state, to resumecommunications with the base station; and means for transmitting, to thebase station, a connection resume request to transition from thedormancy state to the connected state.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30,further comprising: means for receiving, from the base station, aresponse to the connection resume request confirming the connectionresume request; and means for transitioning from the dormancy state tothe connected state based at least in part on the confirmation.
 32. Theapparatus of claim 24, wherein the connection suspend request, or theresponse to the connection suspend request, or a connection resumerequest, or a response to the connection resume request are sent using aradio resource control (RRC) message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof.
 33. An apparatus for wireless communication,comprising: means for receiving a connection suspend request from a userequipment (UE), the connection suspend request to transition the UE froma connected state to a dormancy state; means for determining whether toallow the UE to transition to the dormancy state based at least in parton the connection suspend request; and means for transmitting a responseto the connection suspend request to the UE, the response comprising,based at least in part on the determination, a confirmation of theconnection suspend request or a denial of the connection suspendrequest.
 34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising: means fordetermining to allow the UE to transition to the dormancy state, whereinthe response to the connection suspend request comprises theconfirmation of the connection suspend request.
 35. The apparatus ofclaim 34, further comprising: means for receiving, from the UE, aconnection resume request to transition the UE from the dormancy stateto the connected state; and means for transmitting a response to theconnection resume request to the UE confirming the connection resumerequest.
 36. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising: means fordetermining to deny the UE to transition to the dormancy state, whereinthe response to the connection suspend request comprises the denial ofthe connection suspend request.
 37. The apparatus of claim 33, furthercomprising: means for transmitting, based at least in part on receivingthe connection suspend request, a command for the UE to transition to anidle state.
 38. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising: means forstoring, based at least in part on receiving the connection suspendrequest, one or more communication parameter values for the UE.
 39. Theapparatus of claim 33, wherein the connection suspend request, or theresponse to the connection suspend request, or a connection resumerequest, or a response to the connection resume request are sent using aradio resource control (RRC) message, or Layer 1 signaling, or acombination thereof.
 40. An apparatus for wireless communication,comprising: a processor; memory in electronic communication with theprocessor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: identify that a power level of auser equipment (UE) is below a power threshold; transmit a connectionsuspend request to a base station based at least in part on theidentification, the connection suspend request to transition the UE froma connected state to a dormancy state; and receive, from the basestation, a response to the connection suspend request indicating whetherthe UE is to transition to the dormancy state.
 41. The apparatus ofclaim 40, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: determine whether to transition tothe dormancy state based at least in part on the received response tothe connection suspend request.
 42. The apparatus of claim 40, whereinthe instructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: transition from the connected state to the dormancy statebased at least in part on the response to the connection suspendrequest, wherein the response comprises a confirmation of the connectionsuspend request.
 43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the instructionsare further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:maintain the connected state based at least in part on the response tothe connection suspend request, wherein the response comprises a denialof the connection suspend request.
 44. The apparatus of claim 40,wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to: transition to an idle state based at least inpart on the response to the connection suspend request, wherein theresponse comprises a denial of the connection suspend request.
 45. Theapparatus of claim 40, wherein the instructions are further executableby the processor to cause the apparatus to: enter a modem of the UE intothe dormancy state, wherein the response comprises a confirmation of theconnection suspend request.
 46. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: transition from the connected state to the dormancy statebased at least in part on the response to the connection suspendrequest; determine, while in the dormancy state, to resumecommunications with the base station; and transmit, to the base station,a connection resume request to transition from the dormancy state to theconnected state.
 47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the instructionsare further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:receive, from the base station, a response to the connection resumerequest confirming the connection resume request; and transition fromthe dormancy state to the connected state based at least in part on theconfirmation.
 48. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the connectionsuspend request, or the response to the connection suspend request, or aconnection resume request, or a response to the connection resumerequest are sent using a radio resource control (RRC) message, or Layer1 signaling, or a combination thereof.
 49. An apparatus for wirelesscommunication, comprising: a processor; memory in electroniccommunication with the processor; and instructions stored in the memoryand executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive aconnection suspend request from a user equipment (UE), the connectionsuspend request to transition the UE from a connected state to adormancy state; determine whether to allow the UE to transition to thedormancy state based at least in part on the connection suspend request;and transmit a response to the connection suspend request to the UE, theresponse comprising, based at least in part on the determination, aconfirmation of the connection suspend request or a denial of theconnection suspend request.
 50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: determine to allow the UE to transition to the dormancystate, wherein the response to the connection suspend request comprisesthe confirmation of the connection suspend request.
 51. The apparatus ofclaim 50, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: receive, from the UE, a connectionresume request to transition the UE from the dormancy state to theconnected state; and transmit a response to the connection resumerequest to the UE confirming the connection resume request.
 52. Theapparatus of claim 49, wherein the instructions are further executableby the processor to cause the apparatus to: determine to deny the UE totransition to the dormancy state, wherein the response to the connectionsuspend request comprises the denial of the connection suspend request.53. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the instructions are furtherexecutable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit, basedat least in part on receiving the connection suspend request, a commandfor the UE to transition to an idle state.
 54. The apparatus of claim49, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to: store, based at least in part on receiving theconnection suspend request, one or more communication parameter valuesfor the UE.
 55. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the connectionsuspend request, or the response to the connection suspend request, or aconnection resume request, or a response to the connection resumerequest are sent using a radio resource control (RRC) message, or Layer1 signaling, or a combination thereof.
 56. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, thecode comprising instructions executable by a processor to: identify thata power level of a user equipment (UE) is below a power threshold;transmit a connection suspend request to a base station based at leastin part on the identification, the connection suspend request totransition the UE from a connected state to a dormancy state; andreceive, from the base station, a response to the connection suspendrequest indicating whether the UE is to transition to the dormancystate.
 57. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by aprocessor to: receive a connection suspend request from a user equipment(UE), the connection suspend request to transition the UE from aconnected state to a dormancy state; determine whether to allow the UEto transition to the dormancy state based at least in part on theconnection suspend request; and transmit a response to the connectionsuspend request to the UE, the response comprising, based at least inpart on the determination, a confirmation of the connection suspendrequest or a denial of the connection suspend request.